Trying to move some files over from an old hard drive, A couple of folders refuse to be copied.
My current computer's OS is Windows XP.
When trying to access the folders, The following Error Message appears
[directory name] refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard disk on this computer, or on a network. Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted or that you are connected to the internet and then try again. If it still cannot be located, the information may have been moved to a different location.
All the folders in question have a common property, They end in a period, which is illegal in XP
Examples
D:\folder1.
D:\folder2.
I've checked the following resource
http://blog.dotsmart.net/2008/06/12/solved-cannot-read-from-the-source-file-or-disk/
which solves the issue when you want to remove the folders, I've tested this and it works great.
Using command prompt and prepending \\?\ will let me at the file so
rd /s "\\?\D:\folder1."
This works fine, strangely this does not seem to work with copy or move
I've tried various permutations of
copy "\\?\D:\folder1." somethingelse
copy "\\?\folder1." somethingelse
and
move "\\?\D:\folder1." somethingelse
move "\\?\folder1." somethingelse
These folders have data I would like to access, so deleting the folders is of no use to me. I want to find some way to either rename the folders something that XP can understand or move the files out of that directory.
Is there anyway to do this with XP, or Am I stuck with finding an OS that can read these files properly? If so do you have any suggestions on Live CDs that can understand filenames with this particular format?
Thanks!
Ray
